What Drives Successful Administrative Performance during Crises? Lessons from Refugee Migration and the Covid-19...

Area of Science:

• Public Administration
• Crisis Management
• Organizational Learning

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of public administration systems in managing global crises.
• Understanding factors that enhance administrative performance during extraordinary circumstances is crucial for improving current and future crisis responses.
• Traditional hierarchical approaches may be less effective than adaptive network strategies in complex crisis situations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate patterns of sound administrative performance, focusing on networks and knowledge management within and between crises.
• To identify concrete factors driving successful administrative performance in crisis situations.
• To test hypotheses regarding the impact of preparedness, learning, and network cooperation on administrative crisis performance.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of empirical evidence from two public administration surveys conducted in Germany.
• Application of statistical tests for group differences and regression analyses to test derived hypotheses.
• Focus on structural preparedness, inter-agency learning, and network cooperation quality.

Main Results:

• Administrations that were structurally prepared, learned from preceding crises, and had high-quality network cooperation performed significantly better.
• Effective network cooperation with other administrations and civil society is a key predictor of successful crisis management.
• Knowledge management and resource sharing enhance organizational capacity to perform well during crises.

Conclusions:

• Preparedness, inter-crisis learning, and robust network cooperation are vital for effective public administration in crisis situations.
• Adaptive use of multi-actor networks offers significant potential for coping with extraordinary challenges.
• Investing in organizational self-awareness and knowledge transfer is essential for optimizing crisis response strategies.